A graphic organizer differs from a worksheet in several important ways.
Worksheet
Graphic Organizer
One correct response for each question or blank
A diversity of responses can be correct
Formal test-like quality to practice or assess knowledge
Not standardized, more open-ended
Usually does not include teaching (new information)
Can include new information to capitalize on instructional potential
Less flexibilty
Greater differentiation and support for ELLs and special education students
Does not always stimulate higher-order thinking skills
More likely to provoke higher-order thinking due to open-endedness of the possible responses
A graphic organizer should be constructed as a tool for learning. This graphic organizer follows the lesson plan template on page 15 in CS4TRC. Read the additional information provided on this graphic organizer and use it to analyze the lesson plan you are deconstructing.
Important:
1. Each partner should use a different color font to indicate her/his contributions to this collaborative assignment. Do not use black!
2. Where you see a diamond-shaped bullet (turned into a circle by wikispaces), you will need to provide a response.
3. "yes" and "no" (or variations of these such as "none") are incomplete answers and will earn zero points, except as noted on the checklist.
Reading Comprehension Strategy: Questioning
Instructional Level: Advancing (middle school)
Planning
Reading Comprehension Strategy (RCS)
Name the RCS. Questioning
Which AASL indicators align with this reading comprehension strategy? Note both the number and the actual language of the indicator.
Yes, all three relate directly to the reading comprehension strategy. With this information, we can see the overlap in our instructional responsibilities.
Develop and refine a range of questions to frame search for new understanding. (1.1.3)
Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts (1.2.1)
Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions. (1.1.4)
Reading Development Level
Note: The levels indicated on the CS4TRC lesson plans correspond roughly as follows:
Emerging: Grades K-1
Advancing: Grades 2-3
Advanced: Grades 4-6
However, these are approximations. Depending on the reading profieciency of the students with whom you work, these grades levels should be adjusted up or down. I have used some of the advanced lessons with 8th-grade students. LS 5443 students who are interesting inserving at the high school level should choose an advanced lesson for this assignment or email the professor for several high school examples from her forthcoming book.
Instructional Strategies
Review these strategies on page 13 in CS4TRC.
Which of these research-based instructional strategies have you used in your teaching? Name them. - Thank you for the information and for your self-analysis. It is also very important for school librarians to have several strategies in our toolkit for teaching notemaking and summarizing. Much of our collaborative work will involve teaching and re-teaching these difficult-to-master skills.
I have used: identifying similarity and differences; note taking and summarizing; nonlinguistic representations; cooperative learning; questions, cues, and graphic organizers.
I have used: similarities and differences, note taking, summarizing, cooperative learning, graphic organizers, advance organizers, nonlinguistic representations, setting objectives, providing feedback, and questions.
Which of these instructional strategies do you need to learn? Name them and describe them.
I need to learn more about setting objectives and providing feedback, as well as questioning and cues. Setting objectives is a way to activate students engagement. It allows the students to be in control of their learning by setting objectives for themselves. Providing feedback is how the teacher lets students know of their progress and help guide them to their goals.
I need to learn more about questions and cues, specifically as they deal with reading. Questioning gives students a guide to assist them with processing information as they read. Cues are signs identifying important concepts for students to note as they take in information.
Lesson Length
What are your questions about the lesson length? You must have at least one.
The lesson plan states "6 sessions," but I wonder how long each session is? Is it on a 45 minute class period, 60?, 90?
Our students are required to take a fitness evaluation at the beginning of the first semester and the end of the last semester. Perhaps a way to handle the timing of the sessions would be to begin by providing the students with their result from the first test. From there, different pieces of the project could be handled by the different teachers involved and addressed in a cross-curricular fashion. It will be a challenge to maintain the momentum so I wonder how to schedule the lessons so they are most effective.
If you had received the entire book, you would know these sessions are designed for 50-minute class periods on consecutive days. Of course you will adjust published lessons based on the needs and proficiency of the students in your care.
Note: If you have worked within the constraints of a fixed schedule in which students come to the library just one time per week, there are many options for increasing the amount of time you spend with students. School librarians must think about the fact that NO other teachers in their buildings introduce and teach a concept on Tuesday morning at 10:00 and NEVER mention it again until the next Tuesday morning at 10:00. This is simply not an effective instructional practice. What are your strategies for getting out of the fixed schedule library box?
Purpose
How is the purpose of the lesson connected - or not connected - to your idea of the type of instruction that "should" take place in the school library? Agreed.
Part of succeeding in school and as a reading is asking good questions.This lesson focuses on asking questions, revising those questions after knowledge is gained, and questioning the accuracy of information. These skills are vital for students and should be included in instruction in every room and class in the school.
The purpose of the assignment not only gives students practice forming questions, but also allows them to apply these questions to inquiry of a personal nature. If libraries are to foster life-long learning, then students need much practice of this type.
List at least one verb that is used to name what students will do for every objective in this lesson; list the corresponding level on Bloom's. Use this chart.
Objective
Verb
Level on Bloom's
Objective 1
ask
understanding
Objective 2
organize
applying
Objective 3
compare
analyzing
Objective 4
develop
creating
Objective
Verb
Level on Bloom's
Objective 1
Use
applying
Objective 2
collect
understanding
Objective 4
re-evaluate
evaluating
Sadly, we lost synthesizing with the new Bloom's... This was a staple of resource-based library learning experiences.
Resources, Materials, and Equipment
Children's Literature
Websites
Graphic Organizers
Materials
Equipment
Which are the different formats or genres used to support learners?
Health textbooks, height, weight, and eye charts, blood pressure cuffs.
Which technology tools are used? If technology is not used in this lesson, do you think there are appropriate tools to help students meet the lesson objectives? Name those tools and how you would use them.
Technology tools incorporated: projector, whiteboard, video player (if needed), computer.
Collaboration
How does this lesson maximize the benefits of two (or more) educators coteaching? Be specific. Yes, modeling and monitoring guided practice are lesson components when coteaching is clearly a benefit. I believe that showing divergent thought processes during think-alouds is also valuable for learners.
Educators are present at all times of the lesson allowing students to have maximum support in developing quality questions. For example, on day 1 when students are broken up into pairs, educators can walk around assisting students. The more educators part of this collaboration would mean more groups that are able to be assisted at the same time. This results in less time spent off-task waiting for help and increases classroom management and lesson success.
More than one teacher allows for better modeling of the before, during and after questioning process. The collaborators are better able to demonstrate activities such as "think-pair share" in case students are unfamiliar.
Assessment
Are there multiple methods/tools for assessing student outcomes? If there's one, name it. If there are multiple, name them.
This lesson allows for formative assessing in the way of monitoring and matrices. The summative assessments include wiki presentations (use of rubric) and content assessments.
Yes.
Are there opportunities for learners to self assess? (AASL Strand #4: Self-Assessment Strategies) What are they? Agreed.
Day 1-2 closures allow for students to assess their questions and choose the most compelling one to share. Day 6 closure allows for the whole class to reflect on their work. The matrices also have a section for reflecting on the questioning and how the questions change throughout the lesson.
Students must determine which topic to feature on their personal wiki, along with which questions demonstrate the before, during, and after questions for the topic. Also, they must share how this procedure will lead them into research. They are demonstrating the ability to make decisions regarding how to act upon information.
Standards
Reading and/or writing
Listening and speaking
Other content areas
Information literacy
Educational technology
What content-area standards are integrated into this lesson? List them. Use specific standards from state standards to Texas or the state you and your partner have negotiated.
Brava. This is a thoughful selection of TEKS. I believe the standards you identify (and the number of standards) are appropriate for a unit of this length. We should always ask ourselves: Which of these am I assessing? If you are not assessing it, then you can eliminate it from your list.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
Physical Education- 1) The student exhibits a physically-active lifestyle and understands the relationship between physical activity and health throughout the life span. 2) In Grades 6-8, students understand in greater detail the function of the body, learn to measure their own performance more accurately, and develop plans for improvement. 3-C) establish and monitor progress toward appropriate personal fitness goals in each of the components of health-related fitness such as personal logs, group projects, and no space/or criterion referenced tests Science- 4-A) ii) Scientific investigations are conducted for different reasons. All investigations require a research question, careful observations, data gathering, and analysis of the data to identify the patterns that will explain the findings. English Language Arts and Reading- 24) Research/Synthesizing Information. Students clarify research questions and evaluate and synthesize collected information. A)refine the major research question, if necessary, guided by the answers to a secondary set of questions (6th Grade), advancing to: narrow or broaden the major research question, if necessary, based on further research and investigation (7th & 8th Grade). B) evaluate the relevance and reliability of sources for the research (6th Grade), advancing to: utilize elements that demonstrate the reliability and validity of the sources used (e.g., publication date, coverage, language, point of view) and explain why one source is more useful and relevant than another. Health- 1) Health information. The student comprehends ways to enhance and maintain personal health throughout the life span. The student is expected to: A) analyze healthy and unhealthy dietary practices; B) explain the importance of a personal dietary and exercise plan; Technology- 2) Students communicate information in different formats and to diverse audiences. 6) Information acquisition.The student evaluates the acquired electronic information. The student is expected to: A) determine and employ methods to evaluate the electronic information for accuracy and validity; B) resolve information conflicts and validate information through accessing, researching, and comparing data; and C) demonstrate the ability to identify the source, location, media type, relevancy, and content validity of available information.
Note: These lesson plans were published before AASL's Standards for the 21st Century Learner were available.
Which AASL indicators align with this lesson? Give both the number and the description for each.
Develop and refine a range of questions to frame search for new understanding. (1.1.3)
Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts (1.2.1)
Organize knowledge so it is useful. (2.1.2)
Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information (2.1.4)
Seek information for personal learning in a variety of formats and genres (4.1.4)
Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions. (1.1.4) - Agreed! Thank you. I will add this indicator to the lesson plan.
Implementation
Process
Motivation
Motivation is also known as "anticipatory set" in the Madeline Hunter, ELL lesson plan design.
Will this invitation to learn be effective in capturing students' interest? Why or why not? This was my experience.
I believe the students will enjoy taking the poll and may be shocked out about information they learn about their drink choice.
The students will be intrigued by the novelty of having their favorite beverages in class.
What are your ideas to increase student buy-in to this lesson? Give at least one. Great ideas to increase buy-in, a key in middle school, especially...
I would put the city or state's obesity percentage on the board in large digits. Off to the side I would put a huge question mark. After students ask what the number is I would have them guess what it represents. After several suggestions I would explain the significance of the number and that questioning is the key to fixing the problem and the key to succeeding in any class and goal.
I have done something similar in a dance class except it focused on one aspect of fitness: improving flexibility to perfect the splits. I found that students enjoy learning about themselves, so looking at the results of their own fitness evaluations would definitely increase their interest.
Student-friendly Objectives
Are these objectives at the instructional level of the targeted students? Give an example.
Middle School students should be would working on developing good questions. The objectives include working with students on developing quality questions before, during, and after searching for information.
As they progress from grades 6 to 8, students should increasingly be able to refine their questions based upon the results of their research.
Yes, but in my experience that is not the case. Students begin with a question or two and stick with them through thick and thin. It is important that we model changing the direction of our inquiry when the circumstances and our changing needs warrant it.
Are there terms in these objectives that may need to be taught to students? Give an example.
Students may need to be taught words such as "appropriate," "cell," and "graphic organizer."
Students will need some type of "job aide" with key health and fitness terminology.
Agreed.
Presentation
Describe the modeling aspect of this lesson.
Adults model the physical forms, appropriate questioning, and filling out a matrix. Adults can then provide additional modeling to students as needed while they are working in pairs or small groups.
How are the benefits of two or more educators maximized in the presentation component? All true...
While one professional is explaining what to do, the other is writing the information down. This results in no time being wasted. Also, because one person is always watching/talking with the class there is better classroom management.
The students benefit from having teachers from different subjects presiding in their element while connecting reading and information skills across the curriculum.
Student Participation Procedures or Student Practice Procedures
Are the directions clear? Give an example. Good. Thanks for your feedback.
Yes, for example, Day 2 has a list of student practice procedures. These state the students should think-pair-share, record at least one question per category, evaluate for depth, and circle questions that ask for more than simple facts. These give the reader step by step instructions on what to do.
Yes the instructions are clear and specific. For example, day 6 requires student to share one topic from their matrix on the wiki, then share one before, during and after question on the wiki.
Guided Practice - This is the component of the lesson when many classroom teachers have the "aha" moment. They clearly experience the benefits to students and to themselves of coteaching.
How are the benefits of two or more educators maximized in the guided practice component?
Two or more educators could share responsibilities, monitor more students, and assist students with questioning.
Closure
Are students active in the closure component? What are students doing for closure?
Closures are conducted through oral reflections as a class. Students share questions and comment on the inquiry process.
Reflection
How is the reflection component related to the learning objectives?
Students reflect on the quality and depth of their questions which is the overall learning objective.
Closure and reflection are critical for students' development of metacognition. Too often, in the interest of time, educators summarize and reflect FOR students rather than making time for these processes... These are two areas we should insist upon in our collaborative work. They are essential to our goal of developing lifelong learners.
Extensions
What are your other ideas for extensions to this lesson? Describe at least one.
Students could take the information they learned and create a commercial or presentation using voki, prezi, photostory, etc. and include it on their wiki. These presentations could also be placed on the school's website and shared with the school or community.
As mentioned earlier in regards to the fitness assessment at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year, the students could keep a journal of their efforts to follow the health and fitness plan that they developed from their questions. At the end of the year, they could compare the results from their first test to the last test, as well as develop questions for further inquiry so that they could re-evaluate the plan.
These are excellent ideas that would serve as invitation to further collaboration for instruction. Brava!
Remember: Extensions are further invitations to classroom-library collaboration. They are worth thinking about during the planning stage!
Plus Individual Reflection - 20 Possible Points - See the A.3.2 Rubric for details.
Molly Kyle
Linda Drake
Dr. M.
Lesson Plan Deconstruction - A.3.2
A graphic organizer differs from a worksheet in several important ways.
Important:
1. Each partner should use a different color font to indicate her/his contributions to this collaborative assignment. Do not use black!
2. Where you see a diamond-shaped bullet (turned into a circle by wikispaces), you will need to provide a response.
3. "yes" and "no" (or variations of these such as "none") are incomplete answers and will earn zero points, except as noted on the checklist.
Reading Comprehension Strategy: Questioning
Instructional Level: Advancing (middle school)
Planning
Reading Development Level
Note: The levels indicated on the CS4TRC lesson plans correspond roughly as follows:
Emerging: Grades K-1
Advancing: Grades 2-3
Advanced: Grades 4-6
However, these are approximations. Depending on the reading profieciency of the students with whom you work, these grades levels should be adjusted up or down. I have used some of the advanced lessons with 8th-grade students. LS 5443 students who are interesting inserving at the high school level should choose an advanced lesson for this assignment or email the professor for several high school examples from her forthcoming book.
Review these strategies on page 13 in CS4TRC.
Lesson Length
- What are your questions about the lesson length? You must have at least one.
- The lesson plan states "6 sessions," but I wonder how long each session is? Is it on a 45 minute class period, 60?, 90?
- Our students are required to take a fitness evaluation at the beginning of the first semester and the end of the last semester. Perhaps a way to handle the timing of the sessions would be to begin by providing the students with their result from the first test. From there, different pieces of the project could be handled by the different teachers involved and addressed in a cross-curricular fashion. It will be a challenge to maintain the momentum so I wonder how to schedule the lessons so they are most effective.
If you had received the entire book, you would know these sessions are designed for 50-minute class periods on consecutive days. Of course you will adjust published lessons based on the needs and proficiency of the students in your care.Note: If you have worked within the constraints of a fixed schedule in which students come to the library just one time per week, there are many options for increasing the amount of time you spend with students. School librarians must think about the fact that NO other teachers in their buildings introduce and teach a concept on Tuesday morning at 10:00 and NEVER mention it again until the next Tuesday morning at 10:00. This is simply not an effective instructional practice. What are your strategies for getting out of the fixed schedule library box?
- Objectives
Review Bloom's Taxonomy: http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm- Resources, Materials, and Equipment
Children's LiteratureWebsites
Graphic Organizers
Materials
Equipment
- Assessment
- Are there multiple methods/tools for assessing student outcomes? If there's one, name it. If there are multiple, name them.
- This lesson allows for formative assessing in the way of monitoring and matrices. The summative assessments include wiki presentations (use of rubric) and content assessments.
Yes.- Are there opportunities for learners to self assess? (AASL Strand #4: Self-Assessment Strategies) What are they? Agreed.
- Day 1-2 closures allow for students to assess their questions and choose the most compelling one to share. Day 6 closure allows for the whole class to reflect on their work. The matrices also have a section for reflecting on the questioning and how the questions change throughout the lesson.
- Students must determine which topic to feature on their personal wiki, along with which questions demonstrate the before, during, and after questions for the topic. Also, they must share how this procedure will lead them into research. They are demonstrating the ability to make decisions regarding how to act upon information.
- Standards
Reading and/or writingListening and speaking
Other content areas
Information literacy
Educational technology
- What content-area standards are integrated into this lesson? List them. Use specific standards from state standards to Texas or the state you and your partner have negotiated.
- Brava. This is a thoughful selection of TEKS. I believe the standards you identify (and the number of standards) are appropriate for a unit of this length. We should always ask ourselves: Which of these am I assessing? If you are not assessing it, then you can eliminate it from your list.
- Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
Physical Education-1) The student exhibits a physically-active lifestyle and understands the relationship between physical activity and health throughout the life span.
2) In Grades 6-8, students understand in greater detail the function of the body, learn to measure their own performance more accurately, and develop plans for improvement.
3-C) establish and monitor progress toward appropriate personal fitness goals in each of the components of health-related fitness such as personal logs, group projects, and no space/or criterion referenced tests
Science-
4-A) ii) Scientific investigations are conducted for different reasons. All investigations require a research question, careful observations, data gathering, and analysis of the data to identify the patterns that will explain the findings.
English Language Arts and Reading-
24) Research/Synthesizing Information. Students clarify research questions and evaluate and synthesize collected information.
A) refine the major research question, if necessary, guided by the answers to a secondary set of questions (6th Grade), advancing to: narrow or broaden the major research question, if necessary, based on further research and investigation (7th & 8th Grade).
B) evaluate the relevance and reliability of sources for the research (6th Grade), advancing to: utilize elements that demonstrate the reliability and validity of the sources used (e.g., publication date, coverage, language, point of view) and explain why one source is more useful and relevant than another.
Health-
1) Health information. The student comprehends ways to enhance and maintain personal health throughout the life span. The student is expected to:
A) analyze healthy and unhealthy dietary practices;
B) explain the importance of a personal dietary and exercise plan;
Technology-
2) Students communicate information in different formats and to diverse audiences.
6) Information acquisition.The student evaluates the acquired electronic information. The student is expected to:
A) determine and employ methods to evaluate the electronic information for accuracy and validity;
B) resolve information conflicts and validate information through accessing, researching, and comparing data; and
C) demonstrate the ability to identify the source, location, media type, relevancy, and content validity of available information.
Note: These lesson plans were published before AASL's Standards for the 21st Century Learner were available.
Implementation
Motivation
Motivation is also known as "anticipatory set" in the Madeline Hunter, ELL lesson plan design.
Student-friendly Objectives
- Are these objectives at the instructional level of the targeted students? Give an example.
- Middle School students should be would working on developing good questions. The objectives include working with students on developing quality questions before, during, and after searching for information.
- As they progress from grades 6 to 8, students should increasingly be able to refine their questions based upon the results of their research.
Yes, but in my experience that is not the case. Students begin with a question or two and stick with them through thick and thin. It is important that we model changing the direction of our inquiry when the circumstances and our changing needs warrant it.- Are there terms in these objectives that may need to be taught to students? Give an example.
- Students may need to be taught words such as "appropriate," "cell," and "graphic organizer."
- Students will need some type of "job aide" with key health and fitness terminology.
Agreed.Presentation
Student Participation Procedures or Student Practice Procedures
Guided Practice - This is the component of the lesson when many classroom teachers have the "aha" moment. They clearly experience the benefits to students and to themselves of coteaching.
Closure
Reflection
Closure and reflection are critical for students' development of metacognition. Too often, in the interest of time, educators summarize and reflect FOR students rather than making time for these processes... These are two areas we should insist upon in our collaborative work. They are essential to our goal of developing lifelong learners.
Extensions
- What are your other ideas for extensions to this lesson? Describe at least one.
- Students could take the information they learned and create a commercial or presentation using voki, prezi, photostory, etc. and include it on their wiki. These presentations could also be placed on the school's website and shared with the school or community.
- As mentioned earlier in regards to the fitness assessment at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year, the students could keep a journal of their efforts to follow the health and fitness plan that they developed from their questions. At the end of the year, they could compare the results from their first test to the last test, as well as develop questions for further inquiry so that they could re-evaluate the plan.
These are excellent ideas that would serve as invitation to further collaboration for instruction. Brava!Remember: Extensions are further invitations to classroom-library collaboration. They are worth thinking about during the planning stage!
Plus Individual Reflection - 20 Possible Points - See the A.3.2 Rubric for details.